The Who boss who was £50,000 fraudster

Former The Who manager John Wolff’s beautiful, detached period cottage in Hurst

The former manager of legendary rock band The Who has narrowly escaped a jail term for stealing more than £50,000 in benefit fraud.

John Wolff, known as Wiggy, was tour manager for the band in the 1970s and has led a rock and roll lifestyle with the stars.

But the 67-year-old stood before Reading Crown Court last Friday after admitting defrauding Wokingham Borough Council and the Department of Work and Pensions out of more than £50,000.

He lives in a beautiful, detached period cottage with its own gated driveway in the affluent village of Hurst but for six years until 2008 he claimed £55,248 in a range of benefits from incapacity support to council tax benefit despite having inherited property and savings from his mother when she died in 2002.

In March 2009, Wolff was pictured partying with band members of The Who and a host of other celebrities at a London club, travelling from the grand Elder Cottage in Broadwater Lane having ripped off the government of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money.

Wolff did not spend the cash however. Instead he put it into a bank account and when caught in June 2009 offered to pay the whole sum back.

He had earlier admitted four counts of fraud at an earlier hearing.

Frank O’Toole, prosecuting, said: “The defendant failed to notify of his change in circumstances and then made fresh claims for council tax benefit even after he had inherited the substantial capital savings and property.

“He made no mention of his change in circumstances.”

The court heard how Wolff had claimed:

- 36 weeks of income support he was not entitled to - 131 weeks of minimum income guarantee he was not entitled to - 128 weeks of pension credit he was not entitled to - 306 weeks of council tax benefit he was not entitled to

He had fraudulently claimed £10,546.10 from Wokingham Borough Council for the council tax benefits and £44,707.29 from the Department of Work and Pensions, £4,000 of which he has already repaid.

Stephen Bentley, defending, said: “To say this was down to pure greed is an oversimplification of his state of mind at the time. But there was no good reason for his behaviour, I can say that.

“At the end of November 2002 his mother died. It is from this inheritance that all of the offences follow.”

Mr Bentley said Wolff suffered from depression and has had a quadruple heart bypass. He added: “His mother’s death hit him very hard. I know this is just excuses, but it was not purely greed. He was also going through the disintegration of his 36-year relationship with his partner.

“He closed his eyes to it and buried his head in the sand. To say it was pure malicious greed is probably a step too far.

“He has tried to pay the money back to the DWP but he has not been allowed to. It is all there.”

The Recorder John Schofield, sentencing Wolff to an 18-week sentence suspended for two years and a six-month curfew order from 7pm to 7am, said: “You deserve to go to prison today.

“This was dishonesty in the extreme and the only reason I am not imposing an immediate custodial sentence is because of your health. Not for your sake, but because you would be a burden on the system.”

Wolff was ordered to pay compensation for the full amount to the DWP of £40,885.29 within seven days.